Copyright 2018 Mitul Kotecha

Weekend developments in the trade war included China’s denial that they had reneged on any prior agreements, contrary to what the US administration has said as a rationale for ratcheting up tariffs on China. In fact, China’s vice-minister Liu He said that such changes (to the draft) were “natural”. He also said the remaining differences were “matters of principle”, which implies that China will not make concessions on such some key structural issues. This does not bode well for a quick agreement.

Meanwhile Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow suggested that Trump and China’s President Xi could meet at the G20 meeting at the end of June. This offers a glimmer of hope but in reality such a meeting would achieve little without any agreement on substantive issues, which appears a long way off. Markets now await details from the US administration on tariffs on a further $325bn of Chinese exports to the US effectively covering all Chinese exports to the US.

China has promised retaliation and we could see them outline further tariffs on US exports in the next couple of days as well as the possible introduction of non-tariff barriers, making life harder for US companies in China. The bottom line is that any deal now seems far off while the risk of further escalation on both sides has risen. Global markets are increasingly taking fright as a result, especially emerging market assets.

There are no further negotiations scheduled between the US and China though Kudlow has said that China has invited Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and trade representative Lighthizer to Beijing for further talks. Given that Trump now appears to have a unified administration as well as many Republicans and Democrats behind him while China is digging its heels in this, don’t expect a resolution anytime soon.

China’s currency CNY is facing growing pressure as the US-China trade war escalates. The CNY CFETS index has weakened by around 1% in just over a week (ie CNY has depreciated relative to its trading partners) and is now at its weakest since 20 Feb 19. While not weaponising the currency, there’s every chance that China will manage CNY depreciation to help compensate Chinese exporters for the pressure faced from higher tariffs (as appeared to take place last summer). Expect more pain ahead.

At 12.01 EST the US escalated tariffs on China, following up on US President Trump’s tweets last weekend. The tariffs escalation follows what the US administration says was backtracking by China on a number of structural issues in an earlier draft of a trade agreement. Markets had been nervously anticipating this escalation all week, but also hoping that it could be avoided in some way.

A day of talks in Washington between Chinese officials led by Chinese vice-minister Liu He and US officials including US Trade Representative Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin failed to lead to any agreements or even any sign of progress despite President’s Trump’s tweeting that he received a “beautiful” letter from Chinese President Xi.

Talks are set to resume later but chances of any breakthrough appear slim. China appears to have taken a harder line on subordinating to some of the US demands for structural changes and don’t appear to have been too phased by the increase in US tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods from 10 to 25%. The US side on the other hand appear to be taking a tough stance emboldened by the strength of the economy.

China has vowed retaliation but at the time of writing has not outlined any plans for any reciprocal tariffs. Trump has also stated that the US is preparing to levy 25% on tariffs on a further $325bn of Chinese goods though this could take some weeks to roll out. China does not however, appear unduly worried about talks extending further and may be content to play a waiting game.

Market reaction in Asia has been muted today and Chinese stocks have actually registered strong gains, reportedly due active buying by state backed funds, while the Chinese currency, CNY has registered gains. The USD in contrast has been under broad pressure.

Overall however, markets will end the week bruised and in poor shape going into next week unless something major emerges from the last day of talks. The CNY meanwhile, could end up weakening more sharply in the weeks ahead, acting as a shock absorber to the impact of higher tariffs on Chinese exports.

For more on this topic I will be appearing on CNBC Asia at 8.00am (Singapore Time) on Monday morning.

A trade deal between US and China appeared close to being agreed over recent weeks and markets had become rather sanguine about the issue. Indeed headlines over recent weeks had been encouraging, with both sides sounding conciliatory, and progress noted even on structural issues (technology theft, IP transfers, state subsidies, monitoring etc). Against this background the tweets by President Trump yesterday that he may increase tariffs on $200bn of Chinese imports to 25% from 10% on Friday and add another $325bn to goods that are not currently covered “shortly”, were all the more disturbing. Maybe such comments should not be so surprising, however.

The tweets need to be put into perspective. There may be an element of posturing from. It fits Trump’s style of deal making. In this case it appears that Trump and the China hawks in his administration are frustrated with the time taken to achieve a deal. Trump may also be emboldened to take a tougher stance by the resilience of the US economy, strength of US equity markets and limited impact on the US economy from current tariffs, though this would surely change if tariffs were ramped up. Trump may feel that such as gamble is worth it to take the deal across the line.

China’s reaction has been muted so far and talks this week in Washington may still be on, albeit with some delay. Assuming that discussions do take place Trump may feel that he has the stronger hand especially as there is broad political and public support for a strong stance on China. He may feel that if he agrees to a deal too easily, he could lose support from his core supporters, hence he is now doubling down on his stance. Pressure on China to agree on a deal sooner rather than later has clearly intensified as a consequence, but I would still take earlier statements that both sides are moving closer to a deal at face value.

Admittedly the stakes are higher now, but I would not be surprised if at some point in the talks, assuming they take place, the US administration declares that progress is being made and that tariff escalation is once again delayed. After all, that’s what has happened previously. Markets would be relieved of course, and the consequences of failure would be higher given the new tariffs at stake, but at least it would buy more time for China to avoid facing a ramp up in tariffs.

For anyone doubting whether China’s monetary and fiscal stimulus measures are having any impact, the recent slate of March data releases should allay such concerns. While a soft base early in the year may explain some of the bounce in March there is little doubt that China’s growth engine is beginning to rev again.

China data released today was firmer than expected almost across the board. Notably industrial production rose 8.5% y/y (consensus 5.9%), retail sales were up 8.7% y/y (consensus 8.4%) and last, but not least, GDP rose 6.4%, slightly above the market (consensus. 6.3%).

This data follows on from last week’s firm monetary aggregates (March new loans, M2, aggregate financing) and manufacturing PMIs, all of which suggest that not only is stimulus beginning to work, but it could be working better than expected. The turnaround in indicators in March has been particularly stark and has managed to overcome the softness in data in Jan/Feb.

The data is likely to bode well for risk assets generally, giving a further boost to equities, while likely keeping CNH/CNY supported. Chinese equities are already up around 36% this year (CSI 300) and today’s data provides further fuel. In contrast, a Chinese asset that may not like the data is bonds, with yields moving higher in the wake of the release.

Indeed with credit growth likely to pick up further this year and nominal GDP declining, China’s credit to GDP ratio is on the up again, and deleveraging is effectively over. This does not bode well for bonds even with inflows related to bond index inclusion.

For the rest of the world’s economies, it will come as a relief that China’s economy is bottoming out, but it is important to note that China’s stimulus is largely domestically focussed. The global impact will be far smaller than previous stimulus periods, suggesting that investors outside China shouldn’t get their hopes up.

It is turning into a solid start to the week for global equity markets and risk assets in general. Growth concerns are easing and central banks globally have shelved plans to tighten policy. Comments over the weekend that finance chiefs and central bank stand ready to “act promptly” to support growth, may also reassure markets. Meanwhile, it appears that the US and China are closing in on a trade deal, with US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stating that enforcement mechanisms could work “in both directions”, potentially easing disagreement on of the contentious issues between the two countries.

In terms of data and events, US Q1 earnings, US March retail sales and industrial production, will be in focus this week alongside more Chinese growth data, elections in Indonesia and the second phase of elections in India. In Europe, flash purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) for April will give some indication of whether there is any turnaround in growth prospects. The news will not be particularly good on this front, but the surveys may at least show signs of stabilisation, albeit at weak levels.

China data at the end of last week was particularly supportive, with March aggregate financing, money supply and new yuan loans all beating expectations. The data add to other evidence of a bounce back in activity in March, with the official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) moving back into expansion territory. The data comes off a low base after weakness in January and February, but suggests that Chinese monetary and fiscal stimulus is taking effect, with the economy steering towards a soft landing.

Chinese markets clearly like what they see, with equities maintain their strong year to date rally (The CSI Index is up over 34% year to date) and CNY remaining firm (CNY has been the strongest performing Asian currency versus USD so far this year) though China’s bond market will react less well to signs of growth stabilisation. Chinese data this week including Q1 GDP, March retail sales and industrial production are set to add further evidence of growth stabilisation, helping to keep the positive market momentum alive.

This week there a number of key events to focus attention on including European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting, Federal Reserve FOMC March minutes, the commencement of India’s general elections, China data, and further Brexit developments as UK Prime Minister May tries to gain a further short extension to the Brexit deadline, until June 30.

The better than expected US March jobs report, revealing a bigger than expected 196k increase in jobs, with a softer than expected 0.1% monthly increase in hourly earnings, which effectively revealed a firm jobs market, without major wage pressures, helped US markets close off the week on a positive note. The data adds to further evidence that the Fed may not need to hike policy rates further.

The European Central Bank decision is likely to prove uneventful though recent comments by ECB President Draghi have fuelled speculation that the central bank will introduce a tiered deposit system to alleviate the impact of negative rates on banks. EUR is unlikely to benefit from this. Separately Fed FOMC minutes will be scrutinised to ascertain how dovish the Fed has become as the markets shift towards pricing in rate cuts, but it is unlikely that the minutes provide further fuel to interest rate doves.

Friday is the deadline to agree on an extension with the EU to prevent a hard Brexit. Meanwhile PM May is set to restart talks with opposition Labour Party leader Corbyn to thrash out a cross party agreement on Brexit terms ahead of an EU summit on Wednesday that will look at her request for a Brexit extension until June 30. GBP has lost momentum lately and investors appear to be fatigued with the daily Brexit news gyrations.

Meanwhile, US-China trade talks appear to be edging towards some sort of a deal while Chinese data this week is also likely to be supportive for risk assets. As China eases financing conditions, evidence of a pick up in the credit impulse will be evident in March aggregate financing, new loans and money supply data this week. Meanwhile China’s March trade data is likely to look better or at least less negative than over recent months. This suggests that risk assets will likely fare well this week.

India will be in the spotlight as India’s multi stage elections kick off on Thursday. Prime Minister Modi is in good stead to ahead of elections, boosted by his government’s reaction to recent terrorist attacks on Indian paramilitary in Kashmir. Concerns that Modi’s ruling BJP would lose a significant amount of seats in the wake of state election losses towards the end of last year have receded. Nonetheless, election uncertainties may keep the INR on the backfoot this week.

Emerging Markets have started the week on a positive footing helped by some firm data releases. Equity markets in Asia had a strong day while EM currencies except TRY strengthened.

Sentiment was helped by China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI). This was released yesterday and came in at 50.5 in March (consensus 49.6) from 49.2 in February, while the non-manufacturing PMI also came in above expectations at 54.8 (consensus 54.4) from 54.3 in February. An above 50 reading implies manufacturing expansion. This was followed by the Caixin PMI this morning, which came in at 50.8 in March (consensus 50.0). The data suggests that China’s economy may finally be benefiting from official stimulus measures as well as hopes of a trade deal.

Aside from China’s index, PMIs across the region generally firmed, providing some relief to regional policy makers and markets. A key event this week in the region is India’s Reserve Bank (RBI) meeting to decide monetary policy on Thursday, where a 25bp policy rate cut is likely. Separately, attention will remain on US- China trade talks, with China’s top economic official Liu He due in Washington to continue discussions with US officials. Both sides appear to suggest a deal is moving closer to fruition although sticky points on structural issues remain in place.

Turkey hasn’t quite embraced the risk on tone following local elections there. President Erdogan’s AKP appears to have lost control of the capital Ankara to the main opposition CHP, while opposition parties are also likely to take control of several coastal cities. In Istanbul, the gap between the AKP and opposition is extremely close, with less than 0.1% between the two. Overall, the AKP led alliance has garnered about 51.7% of the national vote, while the opposition led by CHP, has 37.5%, with 98.9% of the votes counted, according to the state-run Anadolu agency. This was sufficient for the Erdogan to declare that the ruling party “emerged as the winner” though it is clear that AKP’s coalition party MHP played a large role. Further developments are awaited, with Turkish markets in limbo.

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